, 1887-09-06
AN ITALIAN WATERING PLACE.
boa Bathing at CIvita v~ecchia-DIiles of
Transparent water-The

Boa Bathing at CIvita y~ecchia-nIiles of
Transparent water-rhe Fathers.
In America sea bathing means a stand
up fight with a strong, relentless surf
that Is bent upon knocking you out of
time in every round. To swim in an
American surf is to invite drowning, and,
unless the sea is exceptionally smooth, to
secure it. But at Civita Vecchia there is
rarely any surf worthy Of the name, and
no tide TO bring in garbage and carry out
unwary bathers. You can literally swim
for miles in water so transparent that
you can plainly see the bottom; and as
for drowning yourself. the proprietor of
the bathing establishment takes care that
you shall not do it.
There are two bathing establishments,
or 'tstabilmenti," as the Italian more
briefly spells it. The Italian conception
of a ''stabilmento' at the seashore is a
restaurant, ballroom, cafe and lounging
place built or piles a hundred or two
yards from shore and connected with it
by a long bridge. On each side of this
bridge, n inclosed by two rows of bath
rooms, are two bathing pools, one for
women only and the other for women
and men. In these pools the depth of
water is never over four feet, while for
men or women who swim out from the
pools into the open sea there are ropes
marking the respective distances within
which the expert" and the ~"inexpert"
are advised to confine themselves, and
boats and life buoys are always ready in
case a tired swimmer should need them.
| "a a little BEDROOM in one of the
establishments, and it gives one precisely
the sensation of being at sea in fine
weather. The idea has firmly fastened
! atga1f no., H. H.. --.--.A--
and frequenters of the establishment.
The attendants are dressed in a naval
uniform and are universally called sail
ors. For that matter, they are in the
n~on-bathing season, sailors, fishermen
and boatmen, and the public regard
them as sailors because they man that
saucy vessel, the establishment. The
girls who take care of the women's bath
ing rooms also wear a feminine naval
dress, but they are g~uiltless of any other
marine characteristic.
The women bathers nearly all swim.
Indeed, am Italian, man or woman, who
cannot swim is the exception. There is,
of course, the occasional girl, whose idea
of bathing is to hold on to a rope, jump
up and down, and squeal. She is a type
that is universally distributed over the
civilized world, but here a sense of
shame at her inability to swim renders
her squeal mild and infrequent.
Her sister swimmer enjoys herself i'm
mensely in the water, and swims and
floats fearlessly, though she, too, often
has the feminine vice of not striking out
properly with her legs and of trying to
propel herself with her hands. She cares
very little about getting her hair wet, the
fear of which calamity usually haunts
the American girl when bathing, though,
so far as l can judge, fatal results rarely,
if ever, follow the wetting of the back
hair.
Rude horseplay in the bath is unknown
here, n decorum is successfully COM
bined with hearty enjoyment and genuine
fun. The women battle with more
solemnity than the men, but the fat
Woman is always comic when bathing.
The Italian in the water, as on the shore,
is courteous, self respectful, and wholly
lacking in self consciousness. Graver
than the F%renchman, he does not insult
the majesty of the sea with incessant
chattering, but treats it with the respect
due to a powerful element which may
become dangerous if insulted, but which,
when its rights are duly acknowledged,
can be trusted to be -magnanimous and
courteous.-Cor New York Times.